Operation Sindoor set a new strategic course

India’s ability to impose punishment on Pakistan was made clear by the military operation. It must convert that into a durable structure of deterrence against the Pakistan army

- Deependra Singh Hooda

Deterrence is not an event. It must be continuously maintained, periodically demonstrated, and structurally embedded.

(HT PHOTO)

Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, 2025, was a defining moment in India’s response to a major Pakistan-sponsored terror strike on Indian soil.

In the past, India had conducted cross-border strikes after terror attacks in Uri and Pulwama, but Operation Sindoor was qualitatively different. India struck the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Bahawalpur and Muridke, inside Pakistan's Punjab heartland, while also targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This was a clear signal that terror infrastructure could no longer assume immunity behind geography, deniability or nuclear anxiety.

In the four-day conflict that followed, India demonstrated both the reach and the precision of its military arsenal. It absorbed Pakistani retaliation and responded with escalating force, degrading air defence systems, command infrastructure, and military airfields across the length of Pakistan. When Pakistan allowed reports of a National Command Authority meeting to circulate before walking them back, it was creating an impression of escalatory danger to compress India’s operational window and invite external pressure. India read this correctly and called Pakistan's nuclear bluff.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post-operation articulation was explicit. India would respond to cross-border terrorism decisively, would not accept nuclear blackmail, and would not distinguish between terrorists and their sponsors. On those terms, Operation Sindoor was not an iteration of what came before, but a new strategic course. The question that must now be asked is what India can do to turn the success of Operation Sindoor into an enduring advantage.